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Friday, February 29, 2008

Ricin in Vegas [UPDATE]

Police in Las Vegas, Nevada, are investigating the discovery of what they said is the deadly poison ricin in a hotel room.

No one has shown symptoms of ricin poisoning after the toxin was found Thursday at a Las Vegas, Nevada, hotel.

Authorities were called to an Extended Stay America hotel around 3 p.m. PT Thursday after a man brought a bag with a small container to the manager's office. The man said he found it while retrieving items from a hotel room.

The substance is "100 percent ricin," said Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. "We don't know who [the ricin] belongs to or why it would be here at this time."

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Friday there does not appear to be a link to terrorists.

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[UPDATE]

evidently, the man who found the ricin had come to collect the belongings of a friend or relative who succumbed to the poison after a stay in the room...

A man who stayed in a Las Vegas hotel room where ricin was found is in critical condition at a hospital, where he has been since mid-February, said a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department official.

Deputy Chief Kathy Suey said the man called for medical help on February 14, saying he was suffering from respiratory distress, and was transported to the hospital.

A friend or relative of his who came to remove his belongings from the room found the ricin Thursday, Suey said.